Blog this item

Candide

Or Optimism

By Voltaire, John Butt (Translator)

(157)

| Paperback | 9780140440041

Like Candide?
Join aNobii to see if your friends read it, and discover similar books!

Book Description

프랑스 작가 볼테르의 철학 소설로써 18세기 풍자 문학의 대표작. 1759년에 발표되었으며 원제는 『캉디드 혹은 낙천주의Candide ou l'optimisme』이다. 이 작품에는 당시 정치·사회·사상에 대한 통렬한 비판이 주인공의 운명을 서술하는 가운데 잘 나타나 있다. 캉디드라는 순진하고 단순한 청년의 인생유전을 통하여 당시 유행하던 라이프니츠류의 낙관주의, 즉 현재가 최선의 세계라는 주장을 공박한다. 볼테르 특유의 사회비판과 미학적 표현이 돋보이는 작품이다.

캉디드는 스승 낙천주의 철학자 팡글로스의 가르침대로 세상은 '최선(最善)으로 이루어져 있다'고 믿고 있었으나, 남작의 딸 퀴네공드를 사랑한다는 이유로 아름다운 성에서 쫓겨나게 된다. 그 후 순박한 청년 캉디드는 세계 곳곳을 여행하면서 참혹한 전쟁과 굶주림, 광신, 지진, 난파, 질병, 온갖 만행과 약탈 등 인간의 모든 불행들을 경험하고 염세주의 철학자 마르탱을 만나 논쟁과 갈등을 겪는다. 결국 비참한 체험과 온갖 사회적 불합리에도 불구하고 낙천주의와 염세주의를 벗어나 인간의 운명은 오직 밭을 경작해 나가듯이 스스로 개척하고 발전해 가는 것이라는 볼테르의 계몽사상을 담고 있다.

캉디드는 볼테르의 정치, 사회, 철학사상을 명쾌하고 기지에 찬 풍자소설로, 웃음을 통해서 지성에 호소하는 철학적 콩트의 대표작으로써 가장 예술적 가치가 높게 평가되고 있다. 또한 당시의 모순된 사회와 정치, 부패한 성직자들, 그리고 대중의 어리석음, 특히 전쟁과 종교적 불관용에 대해 신랄하게 비판하여 화제가 되었던 18세기 프랑스 최고의 걸작으로 꼽힌다.

With its vibrant new translation, perceptive introduction, and witty packaging, this new edition of Voltaire's masterpiece belongs in the hands of every reader pondering our assumptions about human behavior and our place in the world. Candide tells of the hilarious adventures of the na?ve Candide, who doggedly believes that "all is for the best" even when faced with injustice, suffering, and despair. Controversial and entertaining, Candide is a book that is vitally relevant today in our world pervaded by - as Candide would say - "the mania for insisting that all is well when all is by no means well." [예스24 제공]

Critics

Candide: Or, Optimism

Candide: Or, Optimism Voltaire Penguin Translated by Theo Cuffe Paperback 200 pages October 2005 “All is for the best” in this, the “best of all possible worlds.” Never mind the atrocities and civil war in Iraq, or the genocide in Darfur, or the infe ... (read full critics)

curledup published on Tue, 7 Sep 2010

5 Reviews

I really liked the red sheep ... ;p

Is this helpful?

Linda said on Feb 25, 2011 | Add your feedback

Absurd Optimism. Improbable. Strangely amusing

Is this helpful?

D said on Sep 8, 2009 about the Audio Cassette edition | Add your feedback

This is an interesting story to read, the adventures/misfortunes the story hero, Candide, experiences are prolific. this is the first time i read Voltaire's work, in fact first time reading such type of western literature, cannot help associate this to one of the Chinese masterpieces “Journey to the ... (continue)

This is an interesting story to read, the adventures/misfortunes the story hero, Candide, experiences are prolific. this is the first time i read Voltaire's work, in fact first time reading such type of western literature, cannot help associate this to one of the Chinese masterpieces “Journey to the west 西游記". The story itself is full of imagination, almost mythological, yet flattered in reality and historical fact of his time, the earthquake, war, etc.
The philosophical argument Voltaire aimed to put across, his contempt for optimism (the 'all is for the best'), castes a complete different world view to me- in today's world people, well, at least many of them, view being optimistic as a virtue, don't let one's sufferings to beat one down.

Is this helpful?

helyip said on Aug 21, 2009 | Add your feedback

So amazing. It makes you laugh and horrifies you at the same time.

Is this helpful?

Jason Fawcett said on Aug 30, 2007 | Add your feedback

I read this on the beach in Cape May. A girl I was seeing at the time was with me. She related later that she had shared with her mother what I was reading. According to the mother, "Any boy who reads Candide in his spare time is a keeper."
We did not last.

Is this helpful?

Batona said on Mar 24, 2007 | 1 feedback